Colorado Fall Theatre Preview: ‘The Revolutionists’ and 'The Wild Party'

For 10 days, the DCPA NewsCenter is offering not just 10 intriguing titles to watch on theatre stages throughout Colorado. This year we are expanding our preview by featuring 10 musicals AND 10 plays. Today is Day 7.

PLAY OF THE DAY: Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s The Revolutionists

Featured actor in the video above: Jada Dixon, who is also the Assistant Director of Curious Theatre’s ‘Appropriate.’

• Sept. 14-Oct. 8
• Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder
The Revolutionists Jada Dixon 303-440-7826 or go to betc.org

Playwright: Lauren Gunderson
• Director: Allison Watrous (Denver Center’s Director of Education)

The story: The Revolutionists takes place during the Reign of Terror in 1790s France.  It tells the story of four historical women struggling to find their individual and collective voices in a time of chaos and madness. Full of wit and wisdom, this historical comedy shines a light on women’s place in history, and what happens when society breaks down.

But what is it about? As our own society breaks down into madness and chaos, how do we effect change in the face of a world in which we feel powerless? How do the disenfranchised assume a seat at the table in the conversations that will define who we are as a people? That Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company has assembled an all-female production team also speaks to its commitment to diversity and a broader array of voices in the theatre. (Provided by Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company.)

What is it about that writer? Gunderson also wrote the DCPA Theatre Company’s The Book of Will. This will be the fourth Gunderson title to be presented in the metro area in the past year. The others were The Catamounts’ The Taming and Boulder Ensemble’s Silent Sky.

Please note: The Revolutionists contains adult language and content, so may not be suitable for patrons under 16 years old. Parental discretion advised.

Cast list:

• Olympe De Gouges: Rebecca Remaly
• Marianne Angelle: Jada Dixon
• Charlotte Corday: Maire Higgins
• Marie Antoinette: Adrian Egolf

More creatives:
• Stage Manager: Karen Horns
• Set Designer: Tina Anderson
• Costume Designer: Brenda King
• Lighting Designer: Katie Gruenhagen
• Sound Designer: Ashley Campbell
• Properties Designer: Amy Helen Cole
• Dramaturg: Heather Beasley

The Revolutionists Adrian EgolfImage above of Adrian Egolf. Photography: Michael Ensminger. Graphic Design: Brian Kolodziejski. Hair and Makeup: Vintage Hairstylings. Corset by Redthreaded.


MUSICAL OF THE DAY: Off-Center’s The Wild Party


Featured actor in the video above: Emily Van Fleet.

• Oct. 11-31
• The Hangar at Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St., Aurora
Emily Van Fleet. The Wild Party. Call 303-893-4100 or go to wildpartydenver.com
Music and Lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa
Book by Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe
Based on the poem by Joseph Moncure March
• Director: Amanda Berg Wilson
• Music Director: David Nehls

• The story: You’re invited to leave your inhibitions (and Prohibitions) behind for a decadent 360-degree party in the Roaring Twenties. Indulge your inner flapper as you mingle with an unruly mix of vaudevillians, playboys, divas, and ingénues in a Manhattan apartment lost in time. Debauchery turns disastrous as wild guests becomes unhinged and their solo songs reveal the drama bubbling underneath the surface. Whether you’re a wallflower or a jitterbug, you’ll think this jazz- and gin-soaked immersive musical is the bee’s knees.

• But what is it about? Last summer, Off-Center took over a 16,000 square-foot warehouse in RiNo to bring you Sweet & Lucky. This fall, we’re breaking out the bathtub gin and heading to the Hangar at Stanley to tackle the first musical in Off-Center’s history. Much like Sweet & Lucky, The Wild Party will transport audience members to a different era, where they will be immersed in the story as guests at Queenie and Burr’s party. The live band will be swinging and we’ll find out what happens when you let down your guard and give yourself over to the party.” (Provided by Off-Center curator Charlie Miller.)

Cast list:
Brett Ambler: Gold
Leonard Barrett Jr.: Oscar D’Armano
Allison Caw: Sally
Laurence Curry: Black
Diana Dresser: Miss Madelaine True
Katie Drinkard: Mae
Trent Hines: Phil D’Armano
Drew Horwitz: Burrs
Wayne Kennedy: Goldberg
Sheryl McCallum: Dolores
Jenna Moll Reyes: Nadine
Marco Robinson: Eddie Mackrel
Emily Van Fleet: Queenie
Aaron Vega: Jackie
Erin Willis: Kate

More creatives:
• Patrick Mueller: Choreographer
• Jason Sherwood: Scenic Designer (DCPA Theatre Company’s Frankenstein)
• Meghan Anderson Doyle: Costume Designer
• Jason Lynch: Lighting Designer
• Sean Hagerty: Sound Designer
• Erin Ramsey: Fight Coordinator

Emily Van Fleet. The Wild Party.

From left: ‘The Wild Party’ castmates Emily Van Fleet, Laurence Curry, Sheryl McCallum and Drew Horwitz. Photos by Adams VisCom.

More Colorado theatre coverage on the DCPA NewsCenter



Our complete 2017 Colorado Fall Theatre Preview:
Day 1: Curious Theatre’s Appropriate and BDT Stage’s Rock of Ages
Day 2: The Catamounts’ You on the Moors Now and Rocky Mountain Rep’s Almost Heaven: Songs of John Denver
Day 3: Creede Repertory Theatre’s General Store and Town Hall Arts Center’s In the Heights
Day 4: Avenue Theater’s My Brilliant Divorce and the Arvada Center’s A Chorus Line
Day 5: Bas Bleu’s Elephant’s Graveyard and Evergreen Chorale’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Day 6: Firehouse Theatre’s The Mystery of Love and Sex and the Aurora Fox’s ‘Company’
Day 7: Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s The Revolutionists and Off-Center’s The Wild Party
Day 8: Lake Dillon Theatre Company’s Pretty Fire and the Aurora Fox’s Hi-Hat Hattie
Day 9: Edge Theatre Company’s A Delicate Balance and Midtown Arts Center’s Once.
Day 10:  Local Theater Company’s The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Grace B. Matthias and Thin Air Theatre Company’s The Toxic Avenger Musical

This 2017 Colorado fall preview is compiled by Denver Center for the Performing Arts Senior Arts Journalist John Moore as a service to the Colorado theatre community. Moore was named one of the 12 most influential theater critics in the U.S by American Theatre Magazine in 2011 and is the founder of The Denver Actors Fund.

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